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by NSlalalandNHreality
Summary: When "it's complicated" gets even more complicated, neither Naruto nor Sasuke knows how to define their friendship anymore. Is it even friendship anymore or has that line been long crossed? Confusing right? Oh they're confused alright. -Sasunarusasu highly possible but not guaranteed.


It started with a deck of cards. A big blue eyed boy hid behind some bushes in the park across from his school as he played a game of solitaire all by his lonesome. Naruto Uzumaki is an 8 year old exchange student from Japan. He is currently attending an American private school popular to many of the wealthy Japanese immigrants. As an immigrant it can be hard making new friends who understand you and with whom you share similarities.

One would think that having a surplus of people who grew up in your own country, who knew your language, your culture, even showed stunned American teachers the level of respect normally granted to Japanese teachers, would make the transition to America a little easier. However that was not the case for Naruto.

In his new school, he was the ultimate outcast. No one liked him. He had been trying to make friends for months and all he got for his efforts were a few nasty looks thrown his way. When his parents had presented him with the idea of New York and going to a cool private school with people just like him he was initially excited; he thought this would be an opportunity to start over. He thought America would be more accepting of him, but he was wrong.

Like most foreigners, Naruto's parents thought that a life in America was bound to be better than anything they had in Japan. Naruto was having a hard time making friends ever since his little 4 year old feet walked into a classroom. It was never understood why the hyper yet adorable toddler was so disliked. But his father, Minato Namekaze, was convinced that it was because of pure jealousy. Jealousy of how far he and his wife Kushina had gotten in life.

He came from a small town where everyone knew each other. No one strayed far from home and chose more monotonous lives than not. Only a few notable families ever strived for excellence in his village but out of all of them, his family and the Uzumaki family came first.

Minato left his town and headed for the city in pursuit of a business degree. He had no idea at the time what he would do with it but he was determined to _get _somewhere with it so help him God. Though he loved his town, he needed more and he was on a mission to find out exactly what more meant. Meanwhile Kushina Uzumaki, a country girl with innocent green eyes, and no motive nor ambitions yet discovered had ventured off to explore the city. After a while she realized that her dream had been in the city all along. She fell in love with fashion and enrolled in school right away.

They met by chance, glimpsing each other while grabbing coffee near their respective schools. They chatted for awhile and reminisced on the aspects of the childhood they shared. She fell in love just by staring into those big blue eyes, listening to him talk about how he was certain that there's something bigger out there for him, bigger than Konaha, their home town. She had realized in that moment that there was a person who came from the same place she was from that understood her feelings. It was funny, she thought. Her soulmate lived just miles from her for her whole life, yet she only realized who he was in such a big city.

Unbeknownst to her, Minato had always loved her since grade school. He had planned to come back to Konaha after he landed a job and planned on pursuing her. Though he wanted more in life, it didn't mean he had forgotten where he came from. He loved his town, and he loved her. There would always be a place in his heart for both no matter what.

This is how they came to the decision to move back to Konaha and be married after graduation. Minato started a series of small businesses, some more successful than others. Meanwhile, Kushina settled on becoming a housewife. She had a whole floor of their home all to herself and she spent her free time sketching ideas for her future clothing line, making clothing, and later opening a small boutique that became quite popular with Konaha's youth. Minato of course helped manage her business on a regular basis and also when she was too busy being Mommy to Naruto. All in all, they were happy.

Though they were successful in their own right, they thought they had better opportunities in America. They sent Naruto to live with his grandmother in New York at 8 years old so that he could become accustomed to the American lifestyle at an earlier age. It was still too early for them to move themselves since they needed more savings in order to fulfill their dreams.

After a year or two they planned to move to America to pursue these highly ambitious dreams. Minato wanted to build hotels in all the states. Currently he was the owner of an inn that saw a lot of business. He saw the potential to capitalize on the idea and so he started saving up for bigger projects.

Kushina was also very ambitious. She had graduated from Bunka Fashion College in Japan and went on to work in the most famous fashion district in Tokyo; Harajuku. She had become engulfed in the culture there and brought that culture with her to Konaha. She now wished to take Japanese fashion worldwide, starting with America. Oh yes, his mom was a big dreamer but she had passion. Too bad her passion landed Naruto in dumb America with absolutely no one. The nightly phone calls weren't enough for a lonely 8 year old and his granny Tsunade was always too busy to keep him company.

Naruto had learned that solitude was best for him. He would spent days in his bedroom crying silently into his pillow, hoping that no one would hear him. It was hard being so young and so disliked without even understanding why. He was the type of person who found joy in helping and pleasing others. A boy so vibrant and full of life. But the treatment that he'd been getting, both in Japan and when he transferred to America, was dulling his spirit. It seemed that he was an outcast to Americans and Japanese alike. Back home people would look at him with scorn as if there was something wrong with him. Maybe, he thought, he was predisposed to be hated. Whatever the case may be he accepted it long ago after his 1000th rejection from the general public.

Now here he sat behind some dry, itchy bushes playing solitaire just minding his business when he noticed a man looking at him. He'd been staring for quite some time but Naruto was too busy being used to being ignored to notice. He only looked up when said man started walking towards him. He quickly turned around to see if the guy was looking at someone behind him when the whole left side of his face was assaulted by the dried twigs of the bush he had forgotten was even there.

Rubbing his face harshly and now quite aware of his small stature and the towering one of the man heading his way, he began to panic. What if this guy got off on beating up young, fragile kids? Worse, what if he was a rapist. Naruto's mind started racing and his feet slightly stirred in every which way as if his mind couldn't decide which way to run, left or right. Too late.

"Hey can I play?" Said the stranger.

'Oh my God he's a rapist, dumb feet can't even run away from a rapist to save my ass.'

"I'm not a rapist. I swear." Insert big rapist smile.

'Wow he just admitted he's a rapist.'

"…Anyways, I was just playing hide and seek with my brother. I was waiting for him to find me behind that tree when I saw you playing alone. I thought you'd like some company."

'Seriously? No one noticed an _adult _male hiding behind a tree checking out a lone prey behind bushes? No one?'

"…Ok, well solitaire is a one person game. Why don't we play a new game?"

"Bullshit!"

"Excuse me?"

"I said bullshit! There's no way a grown man like you is at a park playing hide and seek with a kid brother. How old are you like 35? I'm onto you and I'll scream if you come any closer you pedophile!"

"I'm only 15 and here's my brother now."

A boy with big, dark gray eyes, porcelain skin, and an adorable pout ran over to Itachi. Naruto couldn't quite look away from the boy; unaware that he was staring. The blur of seemingly accusatory words that the boy aimed at his brother went in one ear and out the other as Naruto eyed the boy from head to toe.

"…searched all over for you just to find you talking to some loser."

That he heard. "Loser? Look who's talking, you duck butt headed bastard!" Naruto stuck his tongue out and proceeded to gather his cards. He didn't need to get into anymore fights this week, especially with some stuck up pretty boy. If he went back to his his granny's/principals house, with anymore bruises from getting into fights that woman would probably put him in the hospital…again. And how did she get away with sending him to the ER with weekly bruises and concussions without alerting child protective services? Well she was also an ER doctor of course. Just his luck.

"Oi, wait up I thought we were going to play bullshit?" Came the voice of the older brother while Naruto was getting up to leave.

"I didn't say to play bullshit, I said you were full of bullshit."

"Tch, forget him Itachi, like a loser like him would be any good anyway. He probably sucks at solitaire too." Naruto turned to the duck butt headed bastard, his eyes already twitching. This guy was pissing him off; what with his perfect looks, fancy clothes, and smart ass attitude. What's more, he'd realized just who he was. He was one of the more popular guys in school. All the girls loved him and he excelled athletically and academically. He was everything Naruto wanted to be and here he was calling him a loser. That just pissed him off even more. He lunged. Granny Tsunade be damned.

Itachi just looked on as the two boys rolled around in the dirt shouting obscenities that he was surprised and kind of embarrassed that his 8 year old brother knew. 'How does a card game cause so much trouble?'

He refrained from rubbing his head in frustration and instead eyed the blond boy currently getting punched in the face. He had seen that boy come to the park for 4 months straight by himself. He saw him get rejected by countless other kids and watched him sulk in dark corners, sometimes crying, sometimes playing a botched game of solitaire.

Itachi was really very concerned for the child. Where were his parents? He had grown tired of sitting back and watching him from afar. He'd thought that Sasuke would make a good friend for him but apparently he was wrong. He watched as Naruto rolled them over and started pulling on Sasuke's hair. 'Huh…It really does look like a duck…' With a sigh he decided that he'd had enough. He walked over and scooped up Sasuke by the waist, throwing him over his shoulder. He half turned and looked back at the enraged boy on the floor and smiled, contemplating.

"Sorry for Sasuke's rudeness. We'll be back tomorrow after school…if you want, you can drop by and play some bullshit or whatever you want. I promise Sasuke will be better behaved."

Sasuke pouted and folded his arms against Itachi's back. Naruto couldn't help but think how ridiculously funny he looked in that moment. He lightened up a bit and smiled back at Itachi. "I'll consider it."

Itachi smiled as he saw the boy quickly get up, grab his things, and rush off, exiting the playground. And he couldn't help but notice the huge grin that adorned his face when he looked back in their direction.


End file.
